You are here

History
280S.003

This is a graduate reading seminar querying the intellectual, institutional, and social bases of the rise of "data science," understood as a platform drawing from computer science, statistics, and research domain questions around working with new or large sets and streams of data. The seminar is directed to graduate students in the

humanities and social sciences. It is open to advanced undergraduates and to graduate students outside the humanities and social sciences with permission of the instructor. The seminar focuses on data science within the research university, though there will be space to discuss data science in other settings (industry, public/civic uses, open source communities, etc.).

Course Books

Close to the machine: Technophilia and its discontents by Ellen Ullman

Picador. ISBN: 978-1-250-00248-8

Required

Geek sublime: The beauty of code, the code of beauty by Vikram Chandra

Graywolf Press. ISBN: 978-1-55597-865-9

Required

E. Gabriella Coleman by Coding freedom: The ethics and aesthetics of hacking

Princeton University Press. ISBN: 978-0-691-14461-0

Required

The success of open source by Steven Weber

Harvard University Press. ISBN: 978-0-674-01858-3

Required

Two bits: The cultural significance of free software by Christopher M. Kelty